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Sunday, 17 July 2016

A Week Without Gluten, How It's Going

Today marks a full week without gluten (knowingly, anyway). Quite frankly, I feel kinda gross. My stomach is protesting, I feel a bit nauseous, and yesterday I was sort of spinny and weird. (How's that for a specific description?) I have NO idea if this is what they call gluten detoxing or not. It could just be some virus, or it could be my body feeling the ramifications of no gluten.

Rice cakes and I are good friends. I did have oatmeal with berries and yogurt, but it did not specifically say it was processed in a wheat free facility. That would probably cost me an extra $5.00! Because I am not dealing with celiac disease, I can live with the legal disclaimer of "may contain wheat". I have not had a single piece of bread, bun, muffin, pasta, or bowl of regular cereal. My gluten free birthday cake was lovely. We've been eating our way through it for the last couple of days. When I am at home, it is not difficult to be gluten free.

It was a little different, however, when a friend of mine took me out for lunch. There were so many wonderful meal choices that involved a bun, a slice of bread, pasta, or even a bit of gravy (I was contemplating the pulled pork, but it was served with gravy and cheese curds and I figured the gravy was thickened with wheat flour). Instead I had white fish and risotto. My friend had macaroni and cheese with bacon served in a little cast iron skillet.

I do not feel any more energetic, I have no change with joint pain, and I haven't lost any weight (but the extra birthday wine and cake certainly wouldn't allow for that). I am going to go for one more full week without gluten and then decide if it is worth it for me. The turmeric which I have incorporated into my supplements hasn't helped with the joint pain, either, but I am willing to keep that up until the bottle is empty.

I have never felt that gluten caused me any digestive distress, so I wasn't expecting any changes with that (even though now my stomach hurts when I eat!), but I was hoping to feel a bit more energetic and just overall "well". I also believe it is too soon to fully assess, so I will continue. Anybody out there try to go gluten free and have similar (or different) experiences?

8 comments:

Hi. I first took wheat out of my diet about 15 years ago in hope of relieving ME/CFS. It wasn't until my bowel movements changed that I realised that I did have a digestive problem with wheat. the wheat in my system took about 5 days to pass out of me and then I began to have normal, once a day, non-painful poos...oh joy! The ME didnt go, I still have it and worse than ever. I find I can eat a certain amount of wheat and am fine, but too much, combined with stress send me back to poo hell. I was tested for celiac disease about a year ago and I don't have it. At home I have gluten free pasta, bread, cake and pizza, but eat breadcrumbed or battered fish or chicken, and other things with just a trace of wheat or gluten and that's fine. I consider myself very blessed to be wheat intolerant not celiac; I can eat a sandwich made with wheat bread or eat a slice of wheat based pastry quiche. Moderation is what works for me. If you don't mind me sayng so (and I'm not sure of why you are trying gluten free i.e. what you suffer from) but 2 weeks on a gluten free diet doesn't seem long enough to decide if it works for you. I hope your experiment is successful, though, whatever you do. Best wishes.

I read about how gluten can cause inflammation, including that which could cause joint pain, which is what I am dealing with now. Thanks for writing about your experience. I am not sure what ME stands for. -Jenn

Going into all the details would take way too much time so I'll just say I was on a VERY restricted diet for 2-1/2 years (no fun at all!) but in the end it was so worth it for me. Completely cured me of my awful, bad, terrible, debilitating symptoms so I can say it was all worth it. I went through severe detoxification which I hope you won't have to endure. I agree with Attila above in that two weeks is not nearly long enough to give the gluten-free diet a fair try. It depends on the person (and physical problems) but I'd say the minimum time to detox enough to see ANY difference would be three weeks . . . and it could be months . . . depending on a lot of things.

If you feel there's a chance this gluten-free diet could help you, don't give up on it. You can always come here to grump and groan, scream and kick to get out your frustrations on the perhaps slower than you'd like evidence of improvement and we'll all listen and try to offer encouragement. Okay? Okay! Hang in there.

Ughhhh, the problem is that I am after relief of something very specific and there could be any number of reasons for it, gluten being a long shot. I am willing to go one more week, but I can't see myself going longer than three, especially with this big trip coming up. I have been feeling so blahhh all day long, literally just sitting on the couch under a blanket, desperate for a nap, but not being able to. Unless I see something, anything positive in this next week, I don't see me going longer. I do appreciate the advice, though. Maybe I'm just not very receptive right now. "This too shall pass."

Oh, gosh, Jenn. I think you've hit the nail on the head. It has to be the "right" time to do what you're trying to do. When the doctors can't pinpoint what is causing the problem, we have to be proactive for ourselves and try (sometime) many different things before relief comes. And when you're planning on being gone from home, that makes the whole situation harder. Sending good thoughts to you in working through this . . . when the time is right.

I am completely understanding how you feel. It's next to impossible to eat out, but it is getting better.Once in awhile I want a peanut butter sandwich, crap peanut butter on white bread. Oh boy, do I suffer.I too have really difficult joint pain and obscure abdominal discomfort that is defying diagnosis. (Other than pancreatitis when I eat sugar).Are you able to eat lots of fruit? That really helps me get over the rough patches. Someone suggested to me that it is a good idea to avoid dried fruit, raisins included. After eating a handful of them on the weekend, I DID feel really sickish.

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I am a wife and mother of a twenty-one year-old and a seventeen-year-old living in rural Ontario, Canada. Join me in my journey through gardening, motherhood, living in a century-plus home, surviving husband projects (give me strength), and working full time. I love reading, nature, laughing, small furry animals, and a good cup of coffee on the porch (or perhaps a glass of red wine depending on the day!).